The international congress "Jewish Architects – Jewish Architecture?" aims to reexamine the biographies of Jewish architects from the 19th century up to the present day from an international perspective. It will deal with the question whether and to which degree Jewish self‐definition and the perception of "Jewishness" by a non‐Jewish environment has influenced and still influences the life and works of Jewish architects all over the world. During the last decades, multifaceted research on Jewish architects has been conducted, however focusing primarily either on certain persons and their oeuvre or on limited regions. The conference emphasizes the need to provide a more extensive view, drawing comparisons between different times and regions – from the late 18th century to present days, in Europe, America, Israel and other countries. A new focus will be set on biographic networks, on the cultural and economic preconditions for Jews in the professional field of architecture, and on the role of Jewish women‐architects. This will also lead to the question of defining "Jewishness" in architecture as based on respective contemporary perspectives. The congress intends to examine the subject in different methodological ways. Architectural and art historians are invited as are historians and scholars from other fields to contribute to the debate, herewith developing new and trans‐disciplinary approaches to Jewish culture and history.

The 250th birthday of Jewish reformer Israel Jacobsen will be commemorated in 2018. Born on October 17, 1768, in Halberstadt, he became a banker and also a rabbi in Brunswick. In this position, he fought for equal rights and became one of the leading figures in the Jewish Reform Movement in the wake of the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah). His education reforms, for which he established the Seesen free school that remained active until the 20th century, became a point of departure for Jewish participation in civil society. Until today, Jacobson’s “invention” of a reformed liturgy, first visible in his Seesen Jacob’s Temple, is used in the Jewish Reform communities all over the world.
As a founder and patron, he also enabled the non-Jewish society to benefit from his enlightened educational work. When Jacobson died in Berlin in 1828, a change in the relationship of Jews and Non-Jews had already started. Its impact continues until today.
The conference therefore wants to invite people to discuss the work of Israel Jacobson from different perspectives. Jacobson’s extensive engagement in the fields of politics, education, religion, and society should be examined as well as the history of his family background and his descendants and his spiritual and cultural environment.